Stop Making Time Management Harder Than It Actually Is

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My mate Dave called me at 11:30 PM last Thursday, absolutely losing his mind because he'd just realised he had three major deadlines the next day, hadn't started any of them, and was currently binge-watching Netflix while stress-eating Tim Tams. "How do successful people actually manage their time?" he asked between chocolate-induced panic attacks.

Here's the thing that'll probably annoy half the productivity gurus out there: most time management advice is complete rubbish designed to sell planners and apps to people who already know what they should be doing.

After 17 years of running training workshops across Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney, I've watched thousands of professionals struggle with the same basic time management mistakes. And frankly, the solutions are so obvious that people refuse to believe they work.

The Problem Isn't Your System (It's Your Honesty)

Everyone wants to blame their calendar app, their boss, their open-plan office, or their "learning style." But 87% of time management problems come down to one simple issue: people lie to themselves about how long things actually take.

You know that "quick email" that turned into a two-hour research project? That "15-minute meeting" that somehow stretched to 45 minutes because Karen from accounts decided to relitigate last quarter's budget decisions? That "simple" PowerPoint presentation that required you to learn advanced animation techniques at 2 AM?

Stop pretending these are exceptions. They're the rule.

I learned this the hard way back in 2009 when I confidently told a client I could deliver a comprehensive leadership management training programme in two weeks. What should have been a straightforward project turned into a month-long nightmare because I'd completely underestimated the research phase. The client was understanding, but I felt like an absolute mug.

The solution? Triple your initial time estimates for anything creative or complex. Double them for routine tasks. Yes, this feels ridiculous. Yes, you'll finish early sometimes and feel like you've got extra time. That's the point.

Why Most Priority Matrices Are Useless

Stephen Covey's urgent/important matrix is brilliant in theory and completely impractical for anyone whose job involves other human beings. Real life doesn't sort itself neatly into quadrants, and the truly important stuff usually disguises itself as urgent nonsense until the last possible moment.

Instead, try this: every Sunday evening, write down three things that absolutely must happen that week. Not five. Not ten. Three. If you can't narrow it down to three, you're either taking on too much or you don't actually understand your job priorities.

Then ask yourself: "If I only accomplished these three things this week, would my boss/clients/family think I'd had a productive week?" If the answer is yes, you've found your real priorities.

Everything else is just busywork dressed up as productivity.

The Australian Approach to Meetings

Here's something that might upset the corporate crowd: most meetings are elaborate theatre designed to make people feel important while avoiding actual decisions. I've sat through countless "strategy sessions" where everyone nodded sagely for an hour and absolutely nothing changed afterwards.

Want to revolutionise your time management? Start questioning every meeting invitation. "What specific decision are we making?" "What would happen if this was an email?" "Who actually needs to be there?"

Companies like Atlassian have figured this out. They've practically built their culture around reducing meeting overhead and letting people focus on actual work. Meanwhile, some organisations I won't name still hold meetings to plan meetings to discuss having fewer meetings.

The best time management training I ever attended was run by a former Army logistics officer who started every session with this question: "What would you do if you only had half the time you think you need?" Brilliant. Cuts through all the fluff immediately.

Technology: Your Frenemy

Everyone's obsessed with finding the perfect productivity app, but I've watched people spend more time configuring their task management system than actually completing tasks. It's like buying expensive running shoes and then spending all your time polishing them instead of running.

Pick something simple and stick with it. Paper works fine. Your phone's basic notes app works fine. The fancy features don't make you more productive; they make you feel productive while you're actually procrastinating.

That said, I'm completely biased towards simple digital calendars because they prevent the "double-booking yourself while looking professional" problem that still happens with paper diaries. But don't get sucked into the features arms race.

The Energy Management Revolution

This might be controversial, but time management is actually energy management in disguise. You can have all the time in the world, but if you're mentally exhausted, you'll waste most of it scrolling through social media while feeling guilty about not working.

I discovered this accidentally during a particularly brutal project phase when I was working 12-hour days and achieving less than I normally did in 6 hours. My brain was fried, my decision-making was terrible, and I was making mistakes that created more work later.

Now I protect my high-energy hours like they're made of gold. Morning person? Do your hardest thinking before lunch. Night owl? Schedule creative work for after 6 PM and handle admin during your natural energy dips.

This probably sounds obvious, but watch how many people try to force themselves to work against their natural rhythms because they think 9-to-5 is some kind of moral imperative.

The Delegation Disaster

Small business owners are the worst at this. They'll spend three hours doing something badly instead of spending 30 minutes teaching someone else to do it well. Then they complain about not having enough time.

I get it. Training someone feels like it takes longer initially. Explaining your weird system to a new person is frustrating. Checking their work adds another step. But this is exactly the kind of short-term thinking that keeps people trapped in 60-hour work weeks.

The magic number is three. If you're going to do something more than three times, create a process someone else can follow. If it's worth doing more than three times, it's worth doing right.

Saying No Without Being a Monster

Professional effective communication training usually covers this, but most people are still terrible at it. They think saying no makes them look lazy or unhelpful, so they say yes to everything and then deliver mediocre results because they're spread too thin.

Here's the secret: people respect clear boundaries more than they respect people-pleasers who over-promise and under-deliver.

"I can't take this on right now, but I could look at it next month" is infinitely better than "Yes absolutely!" followed by missed deadlines and stress-induced mistakes.

Some of the most successful people I know are also the most selective about what they commit to. They'd rather do three things brilliantly than ten things adequately.

The Perfectionism Trap

This deserves its own section because it destroys more productivity than all the other time management problems combined.

Perfectionism isn't about high standards. It's about fear dressed up as professionalism. Fear of criticism, fear of failure, fear of looking incompetent. So people spend hours polishing things that were already good enough, while important tasks pile up in the background.

The Pareto Principle suggests that 80% of results come from 20% of efforts. Most perfectionists flip this ratio and spend 80% of their time on the final 20% of polish that no one will notice except them.

Done is better than perfect. Good enough shipped on time beats brilliant delivered late. I know this sounds like advice from a motivational poster, but it's mathematically true in most business contexts.

Why This Actually Matters

Poor time management isn't just about missed deadlines or working late. It's about the slow erosion of everything else that makes life worth living. Family dinners interrupted by "urgent" emails. Weekends spent catching up on work that should have been finished Friday. Holidays where you can't actually relax because you're thinking about everything waiting for you.

I've seen talented people burn out not because their jobs were inherently demanding, but because they never learned to manage their time effectively. They confused being busy with being productive, effort with results, hours worked with value created.

The companies that figure this out first will have a massive competitive advantage. Not because they work harder, but because they work smarter and their people actually want to stay.

Your time is the only resource you can't get more of. Treat it accordingly.

Final thought: If you've read this far instead of doing something on your actual to-do list, you've just proven my point about productive procrastination. Now go do the important thing you've been avoiding.